Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Do you think this is a nice person you’d want to be around ?

28 replies

ahwhatthehrll · 12/09/2025 12:40

I have noticed a woman in my extended family ( in law family ) has been a bit shitty in my opinion towards my family.

when my DD was around 6 months, a relative asked me how I was and I said I was pretty exhausted because the baby was up in the night. We were at a family function and I really wanted to get home to get the baby to sleep etc and said something like, I really need to get home because it’s all my problem with the baby of course because DH works such long hours and I’m feeling very tired and if she doesn’t go to sleep at a certain time, I’ll be up all night. The relative was like ‘ oh that’s nothing, I was working full time in a restaurant when I had a baby, my baby just had to nap in the back.’

A few years later the same relative invited us to their house to a bbq. There was a big table, a swimming pool and a garden on a huge slope. The big table where everyone was eating etc was next to a door which led directly into a small living room. They also have a dog. My kids were 1 and maybe 3 at the time, so both walking. The entire party was pretty stressful as we had so many dangerous things there- the pool, the sloped garden which had a steep drop at the end and the dog. The dog jumped on my DD and knocked her to the ground. It was a nightmare. The husband told the relative to take the dog inside as the kids weren’t able to walk around really and we just had to hold them or try to distract the dog so he wouldn’t jump on them. The relative refused to put the dog inside, stating the dog was her baby. It was very hot that day. In any case, people were not really eating anymore. Some were at the pool, others were going in and out of the house to the toilet, some were sitting in the small living room. So I took my kids in there as it was the only safe space really. I was supervising them and gave them a phone to look at. I just wanted a respite as I was exhausted. Anyway the host came out and told us to go back outside. We had made zero mess in the room and other people were also sat there but she still asked us to go out. I don’t think it was very kind at all and I think we should have left the party. We should have left as soon as the dog knocked down my daughter but we really didn’t want her to develop a fear of dogs, so we stayed and made sure she was ok with the dog, under supervision of course. Am I unreasonable in thinking that this isn’t a very nice person and she hasn’t really treated us that well ?

OP posts:
ahwhatthehrll · 12/09/2025 12:50

I am holding a grudge because of these two instances. I just wonder if that’s unreasonable ?

she’s extended family so not someone I need to see often. But occasionally MIL tries to guilt us into feeling bad we don’t see her that much. When she’s actually MIL’s generation and ‘ friend / relative ‘ anyway.

OP posts:
ahwhatthehrll · 12/09/2025 12:48

clearly by the way I’ve typed that ? I don’t know, this is MN and I am fully prepared for people to say that I’m being unreasonable and pathetic for holding on to a grudge about this.

and to tell me it was rude to go in the house without asking. And that I’m unreasonable for staying at the party at all because I should have left immediately when the dog jumped on my child.

oh and also that I shouldn’t have moaned about being tired when I had a baby because people don’t want to hear it.

OP posts:
IPM · 12/09/2025 12:44

You don't need justification to think someone isn't a very nice person.

But clearly from the way you've typed that, we're going to think she isn't.

Try to spend less time with her and try to get your husband to do a bit more parenting, as I doubt he'll be as bothered by this as you are.

Swipe left for the next trending thread